Emanuel sees tough choices on school budget

Lawmakers' failure to extend pension relief blamed

June 05, 2013|By John Byrne, Chicago Tribune reporter

Mayor Rahm Emanuel speaks to the media after Wednesday's City Council meeting. (Nancy Stone, Chicago Tribune)

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday sought to lay the blame for upcoming Chicago Public Schools budget cuts on state lawmakers' failure to extend pension relief, saying the loss in Springfield is now "on the doorstep of every school and every classroom in the city of Chicago."

The mayor refused to rule out teacher layoffs or a property tax increase as pension payments are expected to balloon from $196 million this year to $612 million in the next budget year, which begins July 1.

"Chicago Public Schools is working through the issues," Emanuel said in his first news conference since last week's failure at the Capitol of a plan to extend a measure that allowed the school district to skip part of its pension payments. "I can't tell you today what their budget's going to be, line by line. I know the first priority is to protect the classroom and protect our children's education, and to also find savings, as we have through full-day kindergarten and through administrative savings as we have since day one."

City Hall and the Chicago Teachers Union had negotiated a two-year extension of the pension holiday that would have once again allowed CPS to avoid paying the full amount. Instead it would have paid $350 million next year and $500 million the year after.

But after comprehensive government worker pension overhaul imploded, Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn threatened to veto the CPS pension bill. The proposal then failed in the House, getting just 39 of the 60 votes it needed.

The Emanuel administration cites the increased pension payments as a major factor in a $1 billion CPS budget deficit. On Wednesday, the mayor called on lawmakers to "step up and solve this problem."

The district has not released its 2013-14 budget, which must be approved by the end of August. CPS spokeswoman Becky Carroll said this week that cuts will be kept "as far away from the classroom as possible" and that class sizes will not be increased.

Teachers union officials have said it's still unclear how many teachers would be laid off from the 49 grade schools the school board voted last month to close and how that will affect the budget.

Given the inaction on the pension issue in Springfield, Emanuel said the school district faces tough choices.

"The challenges of the consequences of the choices we have to make as it relates to our children's education are on the doorstep of every school and every classroom in the city of Chicago," Emanuel said. "Do you make those payments or not? And what do you do as it relates to the rest of the budget that can impact our children and their education? Now, we are going to work through these issues."